Notes and Communications: Some Tibetan Etymologies of Semantic Interest

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Some Tibetan Etymologies of Semantic Interest

Walter Simon

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies / Volume 43 / Issue 01 / February 1980,  pp 132 ­ 136

DOI: 10.1017/S0041977X00110596, Published online: 24 December 2009

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NOTES AND COMMUNICATIONS

SOME TIBETAN ETYMOLOGIES OF SEMANTIC INTEREST The Tibetan etymologies that are to be adduced below have been divided into four groups, according to the nature of the particular semantic or phono- logical considerations that can be invoked in support of them. They all contain features of semantic interest which will readily be recognized as having parallels elsewhere, notably in the Indian and European languages.

In group I, the probability that two words are connected is strengthened by the observation that their antonyms are to be derived in similar fashion from a common root.

Group II is directly concerned with parallels in other languages. Here a number of etymological connexions derive their main support from the observation that identical categories of derivative may be adduced from other unrelated languages.

The next group, III, comprises examples where iotization and palatalization are postulated, and group IV is characterized by vowel alternation, which has been studied in a previous article.¹ Support is drawn from the fact that the words concerned exemplify regular patterns of alternation. In the case of group IV, the vowel alternation is often combined with other features, such as iotization and palatalization (as exemplified in group III), prefixation and affixation, alternation of voiced and voiceless initials, or alternation of final vowels with consonantal finals. These additional changes have, however, been ignored in the presentation below.

I. Opposites

This first group is dealing with support to be gained from opposites. In the examples listed below, particles such as pa, ba, ma, po, mo have not been included.

1. mt'o ' to be high ' ^ stod ' (to raise = ) to praise '. This should be compared with ma ' below ' ~ smad (or smod) ' to blame '. The second example is less obvious and brings in Chinese as well:

2. mt'oh ' to see' ~ Chin, ting S§ (archaic t'ieng, GSR,² 835 d') ' to hear'.

From the phonological point of view, cf. sdoh ' stalk of a plant' ~ Chin.

ting ;ji? (archaic d'ieng). The ' inability to see ' is in Tibetan Ion or Idon ' blind ', and support for equation 2 may be gained from the fact that in Chinese we find ' inability to hear ' expressed by long ' deaf'.

II. Analogies in other languages A. Latin

3. rgal ' to step or pass over, to ford, cross ' ~ rgyal ' to be victorious ' (and brgyal' to faint'), cf. Latin swperare ' id.' (and German Mnuber sein).

4. hhran ' to follow ' ~ hbrin ' middle, middling, moderate ', cf. Latin secundus ' second ' from sequi ' to follow '.

5. rdza ' clay ' ~ rdzi' to press, knead ', rdzu ' to give a deceptive appearance '.

1 See Asia Major, xix, 1974, 86-99.

2 GSR B. Karlgren, Grammata Serica Recensa, Stockholm, 1957. Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities. (Bulletin No. 29.)

The Latin parallel is : jingo ' to knead, mould, shape ' and ' to devise, contrive, invent, feign ',figulus ' potter ',fictilis ' made of clay '.

6. sra ' hard ' ~ sran ' to endure, suffer '. Cf. durus ' hard', wherefrom 1 English ' to endure, suffer '.

B. Greek

N

C. German

8. srel ' to bring up, rear, nurse, train ' ~ srol ' usage, custom, habit'. We find in German pflegen ' to nurse ' and the noun Gepflogenheit' habit, custom '.

(See also no. 3 above: brgyal ~ hinuber sein.) D. French

9. rko (dial, rlcod) ' to dig, dig out' ~ rked ' (dug out part of the body = ) waist'. We have a parallel in French la taille ' waist' and tailler ' to cut, cut out'.

E. Chinese

10. do '(two equivalents = ) two, a pair, couple' ~ don ' (equivalent = ) sense, meaning, signification', dod ' equivalent'. But for the latter two obviously related words, which fit in well with a number of other Tibetan words ⁴ showing alternation of final vowel with dental nasal or plosive, one might be tempted to compare Latin duo, or rather related Indian words like Skt. dva-, old dual dvd, and try to make out a case for Tibetan borrowing of the numeral ' two ' from neighbouring India, much as we find in Romanian the numeral ' one hundred' being borrowed from neighbouring Russian sto.

But apart from don and dod, we find a counterpart for do in Chinese, viz. dux U, according to Karlgren (GSR, 511) archaic (tweb > ) twdd ' to correspond to, a counterpart', with the meaning ' pair, couple' still common in modern Chinese. (Incidentally the relation with Tibetan do, dod shows that the surmise of an earlier *twdb from which timd would have developed by dissimilation, as proposed by Karlgren, is unlikely.)

F. Sanskrit

11. rgyu ' to go, move, wander ' ~ rgyun ' flow, current, stream ', rgyun-du ' continually ', rgyud ' string, cord, chain of mountain, thread of tradition '.

We observe the alternation between final vowel and words ending in n and d as just seen in the case of do, don, and dod. From the semantic point of view, the idea of a continuous movement or, in the case of rgyud, that of an extended line is evident. For the meaning of an extended line, Skt. tantu ' thread, string, line, warp ', belonging with tan- ' to extend, spread, stretch ', was the obvious Sanskrit translation, and tantra ' loom, warp, string of a lute' another

3 See W. B. Henning memorial volume, ed. I. Gershevitch and M. Boyce, London, 1970, 406-8.

4 See 'Alternation of final vowel with final dental nasal or plosive in Tibetan', BSOAS, XL, 1, 1977, 52, no. 23.

1 3 4 NOTES AND COMMUNICATIONS

possibility; when the Tibetans proceeded to translate Tantric works, it was therefore only natural that they assigned to rgyud this latter meaning of tantra. It is interesting to note that Jaschke in the German version of his dictionary attempted to explain the meaning tantra of rgyud, as ' perhaps properly a series of points ' (p. 113b : ' Abhandlung—wohl eigentlich als eine Reihe abgehandelter Puncte '), but left out this explanation in his English version.

12. rail 'own, self' <~rahs 'entire, complete, unimpaired'. The meaning ' own' would not be found under ran in Jaschke, nor, for that matter, in Sarat Chandra Das who in so many cases depends on him; and rahs-pa in the meaning ' entire, complete, unimpaired ' does not occur either in the two dictionaries, though Das has preserved the gloss raiis-po = ts'ah-ma ' all, whole, entire', without, however, revealing its source. It is remarkable that rans-pa in the meaning of ' unimpaired' occurs in the lost chapter of the mDzans-blun which was published by G. Baruch in the Journal Asiatique

(CCLVIII, 1955), and one may well speculate whether the temporary loss of this chapter may be blamed for the word being missed out by Jaschke who in his dictionary gives so many examples from this text. In any case it is the meaning ' complete, entire, unimpaired ' which establishes the semantic link between the meaning of ' own ' and ' complete '. As Sanskrit kevala confirms, among the meanings of ' own' is that of being ' exclusively one's own, not common to others or shared by others ', kevala being denned by Monier- Williams in his Sanskrit-English Dictionary (p. 309), as ' exclusively one's own (not common to others), alone, merely, sole ' and also ' entire, whole, all'.

It may be added that there are similar examples in other Indo-European languages, including English whole, German heil, Icelandic helga, so that it may be justifiable to add the meaning of ' own ' to Tibetan rah.⁵ Further members of the word family are gran ' number (= the total)', bgran-ba ' to count', hgrah-ba ' to satiate ', hgrans-pa ' satiated, replete, full'.

G. English

13. gsob (< *gtsob) 'to fill out, repay' ~ ts'ab 'representative, substitute', cf. English ' to fill in ' ~ ' stop-gap '.

14. mdzod ' (holder = ) store-house ' ~hdzed ' to hold out or forth ', and mjed ' enduring '. Cf. English ' to hold, hold out' and ' to endure ', which latter word was mentioned also in relation to sra ' hard ' and sran ' to suffer ' (see no. 6 above).

III. lotization and palatalization ⁶

15. gos ' garment, dress ', gon ' to put on (clothes, etc.)' ~ gyon ' id.', skyon ' to put astride ', gson ' id.', ion ' to mount', bzon ' riding beast, carriage '.

16. rkan ' (stretcher = ) leg, foot' — rkyah ' to stretch, extend, stretch forth ', rgya ' extent, size, width ', rgyah ' distance '.

17. sman 'medicinal herb, drug, medicine ' ~smyon ' (drugged = ) insane, frantic, mad ', smyo ' to be insane, mad '.

5 See 'Cognates of Tibetan rahs-pa "entire, complete" with guttural stem initial', in Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, xxxix, 1969, 287-9.

6 See BSOAS. xxxvm, 3. 1975, 611-14. For no. 15, of. I A 6 and note 7 ; for no. 16, cf. I A 2 ; for no. 17, cf. I B 3.

ll

IV. Vowel alternation' A. a ~ e or e ~ a 18. (I B 2) nyal' to sleep ' ~ bsnyel' to forget'.

19. (I A 4) gre ' throat' ~ hgrags ' to utter a sound '.

20. (I B 1) Ijags ' tongue ' (elegant word) ~ Ice ' id.' (the elegant and ordinary word for ' tongue ', belonging to Mag ' to lick ', lit. ' the licker ').

21. (I C 6) sna ' nose ' ~ sne ' extremity '.

22. ( I D 5) sbed ' to hide ' ~ sba ' privy parts '.

B. a ~ i or i ~ a (II B 2 hbrah ~ hbrin : see no. 4 above.) (II A 7 rdza ~ rdzi : see no. 5 above.)

23. hbyin ' to sink ' ~ byaii ' north '. This etymology was recently ⁸ proposed by Michael Hahn. It goes together with the words for the other three cardinal points, viz. sar ' east' (lit. ' rise '), nub ' west' (its verbal meaning being ' to sink gradually '), and Iho ' south ' which belongs with lha ' (the one on top = ) god ', lhag ' more, beyond ', lhag-pa ' surpassing ' and lhag-ma ' remains, scraps '. It remains to be seen if the details of the sinking period of the sun can be discovered in Tibetan folklore, so that we learn more about the sinking of the sun inside the earth.

C. ( i ~ o o r o ~ a (III C 10 ma ~ mo, rnon : see no. 7 above.) (Ill D 7 sman <~ smyo, smyon : see no. 17 above.)

24. (Ill A 8) gar ' dance ' ~ gor ' round, circular ', cf. French une ronde.

25. (Ill A 12) hgro, bgrod ' to walk ', hgrod ' gait', hgron ' traveller, guest, foreigner ' ~ b(s)grad ' to open wide (with as object rkah " leg "), to part the legs wide, to straddle '.

26. (Ill C 13) mts'an ' sign, mark, token ' <~ mts'on ' (marker, pointer = ) fore- finger, pointed instrument, weapon'. Cf. Chin, ciin ~*f (archaic ts'itmi, GSR, 43) ' thumb '.

27. (Ill E 3) rlabs ' (swell = ) flood ' ~ rlom ' have a swelled head = ) to be proud'.

28. (Ill B 8) sam (in sam-du ' below ') ~ hjoms ' (to lay low = ) to conquer, subdue '.

D. e ~ i or »' ~ e

29. (V A 4) rtse ' point, top, peak, summit', rtseg ' (to top = ) to lay one thing on or over another ' ~ rtsi ' (to add one thing to another = ) to count', rtsig ' (to put one piece of earth or one stone or brick on top of another = ) to build ', and (with voiced initial aspirate, belonging with rtsi ' to count'), rdzi ' (the counter of sheep = ) the shepherd '.

E. e ~ o oi o ~ e (VIA 1 rko(d) ^ rke : see no. 9 above.) (VI C 12 srel ~ srol: see no. 8 above.) (VI C 8 rndzod ~ hdzed : see no. 14 above.)

7 Hee the article quoted in note 1. Detailed references to nos. 18-34 have been given in brackets after each number.

8 Zentralasiatische Studien, v n , 1973, 437.

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30. (VI C 2) hded ' to walk behind, pursue, run after ' ~hdod ' to desire '.

31. (VI D 4) hbreg ' t o cut off' ~hbrog 'solitude, wilderness, uncultivated land ', hp'rog ' to rob, take away, deprive '.

32. (VI C 6) ts'e ' time ' ~ ts'o ' to live, life ', gson ( < *gtson) ' to live ', so ( < *stso) in so-si ' life and death ' (Siddhasdra). For gson, cf. Chin, cun, archaic dz'wm ^ ' to exist, remain, survive ' (GSR, 432a).

33. (VI E 1) reh ( < *nreh) ' to be stiff, hard, rigid ', hgren ' to stand', sgren ' to raise, erect' ~ro < *nro ' (a stiff = ) dead body ', hgron ' to die, be killed '.

For ren, cf. Chin, ning ^ | , archaic ngisng ' to freeze, coagulate' (GSR, 956h).

34. (VI C 11) sro (<*snro) ' t o be warm' ~ sred (<*snred) ' t o desire'.

For sro, cf. Chin, re j|ft, archaic mat (for which I would prefer sniat), GSR. 330j.

WALTER SIMON

CORRIGENDUM

Owing to inadvertence on the part of the author in cutting the photograph reproduced facing page 463, BSOAS XLII, 3, 1979, a small section of the relevant text was omitted. It is hoped to publish the complete version, together with a slightly revised translation, at an early date.